STUART Reid, the former Edinburgh No.8, believes that Johnnie Beattie can follow in his footsteps by using a move to France to force his way back into the Scotland team.
Beattie, the Glasgow Warriors breakaway forward has clinched a two-year deal with ambitious Montpellier and will leave at the end of the season, following a series of injury problems and a dip in form that prompted Andy Robinson, the national team coach, to omit him from his World Cup plans.
Reid is convinced it is the ideal move for Beattie. "It is clear he needs rejuvenation, and there is no better place for that than the south of France," he said. "It worked for me when I had a spell with Narbonne after my time with Edinburgh and a season at Leeds; the change in lifestyle and outlook definitely played a part in my selection for all Scotland's games in the 2000 Six Nations campaign.
"It won't be plain sailing because, in many ways, Johnnie will have to prove himself all over again: to his new coaches, his team-mates and the supporters, who are not slow to tell you what they think. He will go there with an international pedigree and he will be expected to live up to that and more, so there will be pressure on him to deliver.
"My advice to him in the short term is to try to keep Scotland at the very back of his mind, knuckle down and concentrate on the club. There will be lots of high points, such as the lifestyle, the climate and the rugby culture. But he will also go through low points, because French coaches are quite difficult to work with. You can be the flavour of the month for a while, then all of a sudden you are out of favour. But there will be far more positives than negatives and I am sure Johnnie can come back stronger than ever."
Reid's view was echoed by Neil McIlroy, the Scottish manager of Clermont-Auvergne, who said: "He will have to re-establish his reputation from scratch in a culture where judgments are made quickly. Montpellier's style of rugby will suit him. They are a club who are on the up."
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